What is reflected back at you?

"To see is to be seen...everything I see is like an eye, collecting my gaze..." (Elkins, The Object Stares Back)

Through our work with objects this semester, I've become more aware of the specific way that I view every object—as a practical set of choices made by an individual (or group of individuals). All object serve some sort of function, and for me, the joy of objects is deciphering and appreciating those choices, whether they are effective or not. I also discovered that I enjoy observing the progression of these choices through history. These decisions build upon each other and become more honed (and more appropriate) for each situation as progression happens.

One of the field trips that I most enjoyed was to SLAM. Although I had visited the decorative arts section of the museum before, I had not really taken the time to appreciate this part of the museum that I like so much (I love practical objects). What was so striking about this trip was observing the different contexts in which the objects were created, and yet the similarities between the materials and form. This reemphasized the point to me that everything old becomes new again at some point—which ended up being echoed throughout the semester.

At the Campbell house, another trip which I enjoyed significantly, I spent a lot of time looking at the specific decisions made in the decoration and furnishing of the house, especially in the context of what was available to the family at that point in time. I found that there were many uses that were difficult to decipher from form alone, for example, the bells in the kitchen. I was also struck by the physical changes in scale of the objects in the Campbell House in relation to what we consider to be normal scale today. Many of the chairs were much lower to the ground, while much of the artwork was much larger than I anticipated. I wondered if these formal choices were specific, or if they were just style.

I found that when I compared my approach to objects to my classmates approaches that I took a more holistic approach to dealing with them. Rather than just considering the physical object, or the history, or the human affect, I was concerned with the relationship between these, and other , ways of understanding the objects. When we did the group presentations on the fields of study, I was very intrigued by the discussion of philosophy, because that was a way that I had never considered an object. The implications of interactions of objects (especially the -ness of everything in relation to an object) was nearly too much for me to grasp. I was uncomfortable with the metaphysical concept of objects, and wanted to be more grounded again in tangible ideas that I could grapple with using a physical object, like history or even psychology. I was glad that we did not explore this subject much further, because I think I would have been at a loss trying to understand it.

One topic that I also really connected to (because I had many examples of it to work from, I think) was collecting. I spent a lot of time imagining what it would be like for my parents (or I guess myself) to start a museum or an endow a gift of the many specifically collected objects we possess. Reading about the specifics of collection gave me insight into how these collections relate to the greater sphere. I was particularly interested in the concept of in situ collecting—and if putting an object in a collection takes it entirely out of circulation. One thing that I thought about was my father's collection of crazy glasses. He uses them, although they're also a collection. The story behind why he has them is important, but not as important as the formal qualities. The glasses, however, are not in an entirely stationary point in their life cycle. Rather, the experiences that my family creates using those classes becomes part of their story and adds to their history. Maybe if they were in a glass case and were never used, their life would entirely pause, but that is not currently the case.

A question that this brought up for me was about the idea of in situ for the objects, and what makes the appropriate in situ. I wondered how my own belief that all choices about objects are specific decisions influenced how I think about in situ observation. I found that I believe that even though objects may be in an alien use, they are still in a particular situation. One example of this was the clip of antiques roadshow that we watched where there was curio cabinet that had been modified from its original, and was therefore worth less, even though the modifications had happened a long time ago in history. In my opinion, this object should be as valuable, if not more, because of the modifications, which represented particular historical design decisions and added more to the life history of the object. However, this is not the way that the collecting market sees objects. Instead, those decisions are seen as flaws and affronts to the original design. This makes me curious about what happens to objects that are meant to be modified and how their significance or impact relates. For example, if we considered a specific tag wall as an object, it would have been modified and perhaps mutilated from it's original form, but would that make it any less valuable? Is the value in the process, or is the value in the original? This is a question that I continue to grapple with. As a designer, there is a desire to have the value in the original, since that was the concept that you presented and worked on; yet it is simultaneously significant (and even desired) to have the value on the organic modification by the user. These cultural studies of modification are almost more interesting to me than the initial design, because they are more greatly influenced by culture.

I observed an example of this tension that perplexed me at Cahokia, where the mounds (especially Monk's Mound) had changed shape and purpose through the time of the Mississippian civilization in the region. The museum depicted the mounds primarily in one shape, yet there had been many other shapes and layouts. This was addressed through some exhibits, where the progression of development on the mound was charted and explained. As I recall, there wasn’t a particular value assigned to any one configuration, but I wonder if there were arguments or discussions relating to the relevance or importance of one configuration over another. This was also an issue in the Campbell House, since even though the brothers had not changed much since 1885, they must have made some modifications, and it erased a lot of their history to restore the house to it’s original condition, negating all the things that happened in between. This, however, was central to the mission of the Campbell House, where as at Cahokia, the mission was more focused on documenting the entire Mississippian culture, so it would have been incorrect to advocate for one configuration or another. Additional, the Cahokia mounds are still living objects—newly installed stairs, turf grass covers, plaques, and the erosion of weather and humans continually change their shape and their story.

For me, I find tension between the cultural relevance of objects as they were produced and their relevance as useful items that are representative of a culture and significant for certain purposes. As a designer, I want the designer of an object to be always correct, but at the same time, the user is in a way the designer, modifying the object to serve the exact function it needs to serve. The alien use of objects is as significant, if not more significant in their cultural relevance. The decisions that are made regarding objects are to me the central representations of culture and context, and can be read to explain many of these things, at any point in history, be it an object for yesterday or an object from the ancient past.

I look forward to taking my greater understanding of the reading of objects into my work creating and interpreting them. I feel I have a greater grasp on interacting with design decisions, especially pulling from a variety of fields and researching in a variety of contexts, and I look forward to all the objects that will populate the rest of my life.